The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-06-16
ST. STEPHEN.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S DISCOURSE
AT THE TABERNACLE.

AT THE TABERNACLE.
Five Divine Raphaels Exhibited I'm His |
Martyrdom-Gazing into Heaven-Look- |
ing at Christ--Stoned-Hfs Dying Prayer.
Asleep.
BnooKLYN, June 12-Ths morning at the |
tabernacle the Rev. L. De Witt Talmage, ID, |
D., expounded appropriate passages of script |
ure, after which the congregation sang the |
favorite hymn: "There is rest for the weary"
The reverend doctors text was Acts vii, $3.50:
"Behold, see the heavens opened and the Son
of Man standing on the right hand of God.
Then they cried out with loud voice and
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one
accord, and cast him out of the city, and
stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their
clothes a ia young mans feet whose name was
Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon
God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit. And he kneeled Gown, and cried with
q loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
Charge And when he had said this, he fell
asleep" The preacher said:
Stephen had been preaching a rousing SER
mon, and the people could not stand it,
They resolved to do as men sometimes would
like to do in this day, if they dared, with
some plain preacher of righteousness kill
him. The only way to silence this man was
to knock the breath out of him So they
rushed Stephen out of the gates of the city,
and with curse, and whoop, and below they
brought him to the cliff, as the custom
when they wanted to take away life by ston-
ing. Having brought him to the edge of the
Cliff they pushed him off. After he had fall
en- they came and looked down. and seeing
that he was not yet dead, they began to drop
Sff IA
stone Amid this horrible rain of missiles,
Stephen Chambers up on his knees and folds
his hands, while the blood drips from his
temples to his cheeks, from ms cheeks to bis
garments, from his garments TO the ground
and then, looking up, he makes two prayers,
one for himself and one for his murllerers.
Lord Jesus receive my spirit" that was for
himself. 'Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge;" that was for his assailants Then,
from pain and loss of blood he swooned
away and fell asleep.
want to show you to-day five pictures
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen looking
at Christ, Stephen stoned, Stephen in his dy-
ing prayer, Stephen asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into heaven.
Before you take leap you want to know
where you are going to land. Before you
climb ladder you want to know to what
point the ladder reaches And it was right
that Stephen within a few moments of
heaven, should be gazing into it, We would
all do well to be found in the same posture
There is enough in heaven to keep us gazing.
A man of large wealth may have statuary i'll
the hall, and paintings in the sitting room,
and works of art in all parts of the house;
but he has the chief pictures i'll the art gal
1ery, aud there, hour after hour, you walk
with catalogue and glass and ever increasing
admiration. Well heaven is the gallery
where God has gathered the chief treasures
of his realm. The whole universe is his
palace In this lower room where we stop
there are many adoTnments-teSseltated floor
of amethyst and blossom, and on the winding
cloud stairs are stretched out canvas on which
conmingIe azure, and purple, and saffron and
gold But heaven is the gallery in which the
chief glories are gathered. There are the
brightest robes. There are the richest crowns
There are the highest exhilarations. John
says of it: "The kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into it."
Aud | see the procession forming, and in
the line come all empires, and the stars spring
up into an arch for the hosts to march under
They keep step to the sound of earthquake
and the pitch of avalanche from the noun
tains, and the flag they bear is the fame of q
consuming world, and all heaven turns out
with harps and trunIpets and myriad voiced
acclamation of angelic dominion to welcoIue
them in, and so the kings of the earth bring
their honor and glory into it. Do you won
der that good people often stand like Stephen,
looking into heaven? We have great many
friends there. There is not a man in this
house to-day so isolated in life but there is
some one in heaven with whom he once shook
hands. As a man gets older the number of
his celestial acquaintance very rapidly
nultiplies. We have not had one glimpse of
them since the night we kissed them goodby
and they went away; but still we stand
raying at heaven As when some of our
friends go across the sea we stand on the
dock or on the steamtug and watch them,
and after awhile the hulk Of the vessel dis
appears, and then there is only q patch of
sail on the sky, and soon she is gone, and they
are all out of sight, and yet we stand looking
i'll the same direction; so when our friends &C
away from rs into the future world we keer
looking down through the Narrows, and gaz
ing and gazing, as though we expected that
they would come out and stand On some
evening cloud and give us one glimpse OF
their blissful and transfgured faces While
YOU long to join their companionshp, and
The years and the days go with such tedun
shat they break your heart, and the viper oi
Dain and sorrow and bereavement keep.
gnawing at your vitals you still stand, like
Stephen, gazing into heaven. You wonder il
they have changed since you saw them last
You wonder if they would recognize youl
face now, so changed has it been with trouble
You wonder if, amid the myriad delights
they have, they care as much for you as they
used to when they gave you helping hant
and mt their shoulder under your burdens
You wonder if they look any older; ant
sometimes, in the eveningtide, when thu
house is all quiet, you wonder if you should
call them by their first name if they woulC
not answer, and perhaps sometimes you d.
make the experiment, and when no one bu
God and yourself are there you distinct,
call their names and listen and walt, and 81
gazing into heaven.
Pass ON now and see Stephen looking upo,
Christ Mytext says he saw the Son of maj
at the right hand of God Just how Chris
looked III this world, just how he looks il
heaven we cannot say. "A writer in the tim
of Christ says, describing the Savour's per
sonal appearance, that he had blue eyes ant
light complexion, aud very graceful struc
ture; but / suppose it was all guess work
The painters of the different ages have trie
to imagine the features of Christ, and pu
them upon canvas; but we will have to wal
until with our own eyes we see him and wit
our own ears we can hear him. And ye
there is way of seeing and hearing hr
now | have to tell you that unless you Sc
and hear Christ on earth, you will never Sc
and hear him in heaven. Look There h
is. Behold the Lamb of God. Can you nc
see hima Then pray to God to take til
scales off your eyes Look that way-tly t
look that way His voice comes down
you this day-comes down to She blindest, I
the ieafest soul, saying: Look unto me, a
We ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for
am God, and there is none else PROCLAIM;
ton of universal emancipation for all slave
Proclamation OF universal amnesty for q
rebels Ahasuerils gathered the Babylonis
i a